Road dividers or barriers have been disclosed in the prior art and include concrete barricade or wall structures with tapered or sloped walls as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,362 to Smith. The Smith structure was first used in New Jersey and is called the New Jersey Median Barrier.
According to Scott M. Kozel in Roads to the Future, other barrier structures include the Ontario tall-wall barrier which has the same tapers or slopes as the New Jersey Barrier, but is 42 inches high. The F-shape barrier is similar to the New Jersey Barrier, but the bottom section is lower and the taper or slope of each side wall is slightly flatter. The General Motors (GM) barrier is similar to the New Jersey Barrier, but is thicker with a slope breakpoint about three inches higher. A more recent structure is the Constant-slope barrier with a height of about 42 inches and sides of a single slope of about 79°.
The advantage of the New Jersey Barrier profile is to redirect a vehicle that hits it. The vehicle's wheels and body portion which impact the tapered barrier wall move upward so as to prevent vehicle rollover. The barrier may be constructed of density and weight sufficient to redirect heavy vehicles such as trucks and busses. New Jersey Median Barrier is typically very heavy, e.g., 600 pounds or more per linear foot of barrier. It may be cast-in-place or slip formed onto concrete footers with steel anchors.